Pyramid scales China wall for entertainment business

Chennai, April 19 (IANS) City-based entertainment major Pyramid Saimira Group will set up a 50:50 joint venture (JV) with China’s Longzhe Group to cash in on the emerging entertainment market in that country, said a top official. “We will invest Rs.3 billion ($75 million) in our Chinese venture to operate theatres, distribute film and television programmes (Indian, Chinese and Hollywood movies and Indian TV serials dubbed into in Chinese) and for other activities. The Chinese partner will also invest a similar amount,” P.S. Saminathan, managing director of Pyramid, told reporters here Saturday.

People of Chinese origin are spread across the world like the NRIs, who in turn offer entertainment companies good opportunities in terms of film, television and serial distribution.

The JV company will take the Chinese programmes to other parts of the world where people of Chinese origin live, and international programmes to China.

The proposed entertainment company plans to operate around 350 screens across China.

“The $2 billion Chinese entertainment industry is in a nascent stage. The Chinese want to create an entertainment ecosystem there and this offers us the first mover advantage,” he added.

The entertainment industry in China is badly affected by piracy and the western countries want the Chinese government to control it.

Pyramid will invest Rs.1 billion more in cultural exchange programmes following a memorandum of understanding signed between the Indian firm and China Society Music Research Board, which is under that country’s ministry of culture.